01
Can the tone hold?
A child's voice speaking to a grieving mother can tip into sentiment in a single line reading. Fourteen minutes is enough to prove it doesn't.
In production
Short Film
Fourteen minutes built to prove the feature — in production design, in performance, and in tone.
A brief word on
The short film
In the early stages of production, we are thrilled to introduce you to “I Thought You Were Real,” a captivating feature-length story that we are currently adapting into a short film.
Our goal is to create a compelling and impactful short version that will serve as a stepping stone toward producing the full-length feature film. To support our project and learn more about our vision, please visit our Kickstarter page. By contributing to our campaign, you will not only help us bring the short film to life but also play a crucial role in making the feature-length version a reality.
Join us on this journey as we explore themes of love, loss, and the power of hope in “I Thought You Were Real.”
Corridor test — 40mm, available light, no fill.
The build
What fourteen minutes has to prove
The short is not a trailer. It is a self-contained film drawn from the second movement, designed to answer the three questions every financier asks.
02
Does the grammar read?
Camera movement means the voice is present. If an audience picks that up without being told, the feature's structure works.
03
Can we deliver on budget?
A short shot to feature spec, on feature discipline, is the most honest schedule test a small production can run.
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Runtime
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Shooting schedule
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Locations
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Crew on set
Campaign
Where the money goes
Crowdfunding covers the production block. Post is covered by service work and by in-kind partners. Nothing in this budget pays a producer fee.
Cast & crew38%
Locations & art department24%
Camera, grip & lighting19%
Sound & post13%
Insurance & contingency6%
Six consecutive days, scheduled around the availability of
the lead. Two of those days are the basement sequence, which is the only set build
in the film.
Yes — a private link goes to every backer before any
festival submission, along with the production diary that never gets published
publicly.
Everything above target goes to the sound mix and to paying
the crew closer to their standard rates. It does not go to a longer runtime.
Equipment, locations, catering, post facilities and legal
time are all genuinely useful. Write to us and we will tell you honestly whether we
can use it.
Read more
Why the short exists at all
A long read on adapting a 108-page feature into fourteen minutes, and why that is the cheapest way to be proven wrong.